Your local sports game, everyone's cheering on the home team. You look up in the crowd to see friends, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, all cheering on their favorite players. While glancing up at the crowd, you see the grandparents. Admiring the way they cheer on their grandchildren, watching their legacy continue while being so proud to watch them succeed.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case.

Losing your grandparents is a different kind of loss. Your losing the top of your family tree, the ones who are meant to watch you grow up and teach you right from wrong. All their wisdom and knowledge is supposed to be shared upon you so you can someday teach your own children what your grandparents taught you.

Growing up without grandparents, you realize all you're really missing out on. All the homemade baking sessions, the piggyback rides, the game nights, learning about how your grandparents grew up, the homemade meals, fixing cars, everything grandparents are supposed to do with their grandchildren. As a child, you can't go to grandma and grandpa and tell them what you did wrong and receive all their love and attention anyways. You can't go to grandma and grandpa's house for the weekend and spend all your time with them. It's different; it's a lonely kind of different.

I can't call up my grandparents and ask them how they're doing or invite them over for supper. I can't ask them to come to my events and support me and my passions. I can't stop by their house just to see them. I can't tell them how I'm doing in life and hear how proud they are of me. I will never be able to hear their voices, feel their hugs, or listen to their laughs.

So instead of asking my grandparents about their lives and how they grew up, I have to ask my parents what my family history is. Instead of inviting my grandparents to all my important events, I have to watch other grandparents show up to support their grandchildren. Instead of having Sunday dinner with my grandparents and laughing at all the jokes being tossed around the table, I have to sit and wonder what this would be like. Instead of being able to call up my grandparents and tell them how much I love them, I have to sorrow the life I never knew and hope they know how much I do love them and wish they were here right beside me.

The empty seats at the table get filled with other loved ones and although you enjoy everyone's company, there still always seems to be something missing. The love and understanding of grandparents can never be fulfilled by anyone else.

To those of you who are fortunate to have your grandparents around, be thankful. Show them how much you appreciate them and remind them how important they are to you. Life is too short to go without telling the ones you love how much you treasure them. I would do anything to hug mine and have one last conversation with them to say how much I miss and love them.